Cultural Implications of Immigration

Executive Summary.

Migration of skilled and unskilled migrants has taken the center stage in many countries worldwide. Developed countries are experiencing the heat of the migrants. Australia, New Zealand and Canada just to mention but a few are the countries in subject as relates to this paper. In Australia for instance, there has been a massive migration of people from various nations in the present time than it was before.

It has become a favourable destination for people who are on their transit from other nations to their places of destination (Kutch, 1998)[1]. Migration of people is as a result of factors such as looking for greener pastures in terms of job opportunities, humanitarian concerns of the people, shifting to look for better places of living, looking for better education facilities in the countries of destination among other factors.

The movement of such factors, brings along implications that could be social ,cultural, political and economical both to the migrants and the place of destination. The number of people leaving the countries mentioned in this paper are found to be of the younger age and are also well educated (Coggers, 1994)[2]. This could be attributed to international brain drain and the need for other personal reasons. The migrants come in different forms. Some are skilled while others are unskilled. Both of them have different reasons for their migration.

This paper shall therefore address the impact of such migrants to the destination countries and also to themselves. It shall also answer the question of how the multicultural environment which is a result of migration impact the business communication practices. In business, communication is a major key to success. Without communication, business tends to be in jeopardy. It is therefore necessary to have good communication practices in any business, be it international or local.

Economic Implications of Settler Population.

Migrations have economic implications to the host countries. For instance, immigrants going to Australia have more skills than those leaving Australia. In the technology sector, many people are leaving their countries in such for better pay elsewhere. The number of people in this case has risen tremendously over the past years.

The skilled people leaving these countries are few compared to those migrating to the same countries. This has led to an economic implication in that there is a large turnover of labour in the destination’s market (Gobert, 2000)[3]. Markets are being filled up by such immigrants to an extend that the number of immigrants is outdoing the number of the host.

There is also the impact on the skilled labour itself. As the countries produce skilled labourers from their colleges and universities, it also suffers from international brain drain syndrome. This leaves a gap that has to be filled by the outsiders.

he immigrants who leave such countries end up in the U.S, the U.K and other countries as deemed fit by the immigrants themselves. This brain drain syndrome has affected Australia specifically. sixty percent of the number of skilled labourers leave for the U.S while twenty percent leave for the U.K. This is a crisis that has to be tamed. It can be easily noticed that a bigger percentage of the number of people leaving these countries are in their early ages. This has a negative economic implication in that with time, there will be no people of the countries’ origins working for their countries.

Such an influx in the number of people has been mainly triggered by the liberalisation of the work permits to the immigrants and also the free working conditions in the destination countries. This has made more and more people move within and across the borders of the countries. In New Zealand for instance, there are more numbers of people in their job markets but these people are not origins of New Zealand (Torein, 1985)[4]. They are immigrants from other countries all with the aim of looking for greener pastures.

International population has also been affected by the influx of such immigrants. New Zealand for instance has its population going up and up as a result of immigrants. In most of the cases, the immigrant do not intend to stay permanently but they find themselves doing so due to other factors that come along during their stay. On the other hand, the number of people who make their intentions clear that they are leaving permanently, do change their minds and decide to go back to their places of origin.

Some people return to their countries of origin as a result of old age and even retirement reasons. New Zealand and Australia are countries where migration is not restricted at all. People are free to move from border to border as long as they have genuine reasons for doing so. New Zealand has been the major destination for most immigrants from Australia simply because it does not have so many restrictions like other countries do.

Economic Advantages of immigration.

When people migrate to other countries from their countries of origin, they are expected to bring with them the vast experiences and wealth that they get from the countries that they migrated to. This in turn helps to boost the economy of the countries of origin. Countries such as Australia have benefited so much from such immigration advantages (Rosabel, 2000)[5].

There is also the advantage of creation of rapport between the the destination and the country of origin. Such rapport is always an avenue of goods and information flow between the two or more countries. These migrations could even lead to the penetration of market in both countries involved in the trade. Services and goods are able to get to each country with ease because of the fact that the two countries have respect to one another in terms of trade and business as a whole.

There is also the advantage of foreign exchange to the two countries involved. Money is remitted to the countries from which the immigrants come. Such foreign currency is used by the countries to offset some of their financial issues and generally also boost the economy. When money is taken back to the country, it assists in creation of jobs for the people back in the country and also improve infrastructure (Gallego, 2000).

Opportunities for the countries of origin to supply goods and services are also created as a result of immigration. Goods and services are able to be traded across the borders thereby increasing the market demand for their products. This in itself is a positive move towards boosting product market of the different countries. An example is the situation in which Australia is to considered to become part of Asia. This is as a result of the partnership that the two regions enjoy in terms of business (Gallego, 2000)[6].

Cultural Implications of Settler Population.

Migration has led to cultural implications to both the immigrants and the countries of destination. When people move to other countries, they move with their cultures and also meet other cultures where they are moving to. Such people tend to interact with the destination country’s hosts and as a result influence their cultures. Cultures come in different forms. The mode and way of worship, the types of foods eaten, the way of dressing, the way of speaking and talking, the way of doing business among other forms are usually influenced by the host’s cultures (Yadly, 1985)[7].

As the immigrants move to their destinations, they also influence the cultures of the hosts. The hosts will also tend to copy or rather emulate the immigrants’ way of doing things and as they get together, they become one thing in terms of culture and other related aspects of life.

Political Implications of Settler Population.

There is also the political implications of immigrants to the destination country. Different countries have their own different political structures and ways of doing politics. When there is movement across the borders of different countries, there is bound to be exchange in political ideas (Marildem, 1988)[8]. Such ideas include how to change the constitutions, how to elect leaders, how to deal with bad governance and more so the general political arena.

Such ideas have both positive and negative implications to both parties involved. Negative implications could ruin the country and also ruin the perception of the immigrant s towards their political leaders. There has to be need by the respective governments to put in place measures and regulations that are aimed at curbing such negative influences.

Conclusion.

The multicultural environment which is a result of migration has an impact on the business communication practices. When ideas are interchanged and exchanged for better ones, business improves. An environment that has more than one culture enjoys the advantage of doing business as a community with same interests and goals. This has a direct impact on business as it is through good business communication practices that businesses get their standing in the community.